Detention Ninjas
by Octavia Brown
Summary: The obligatory AU story set in high school. Why would a knucklehead, a goth and a rebel spend any time together unless they were forced to? NarutoxSakuraxSasuke
1. Assembling

I'm trying something new and NOT plotting out a whole story in advance. Hopefully you won't be able to tell what a test this is for me, but to make things easier on myself I'm starting with the storyline I think every fan fiction writer is required to write at some point: the alternate universe where the characters are attending high school. Since this alternative reality doesn't have things like chakra or kekkei genkai, and definitely no resurrection, it's going to have a number of other variations as well, and the characters may thus end up a little bit OOC. Please don't be mad.

This story was inspired by several movies from the 80s and 90s and may contain references to music from back then because, guess what, that's when I was in high school (yes, I'm old). I don't own them or Naruto and that's why I'm writing for FF instead of taking a swim in my money vault a la Scrooge MacDuck.

* * *

At the top of the stairs Sakura hoisted her backpack to a more comfortable position on her shoulder. For perhaps the twelfth time she considered taking off and just taking the 524 bus into downtown. What were they gonna do, give her more detention?

Before she could resolve in which direction her next step would be, a whoop in front of her stopped her.

"Ye-ow! Sasuke, looks like we've got company. Right on! I won't be alone with the bastard this week!" The guy jumping up and down, making all the noise, was a broad, bulky blond kid with blue eyes. From that distance Sakura couldn't tell if he was already growing out a beard, but he definitely had a funny face for such a brash demeanor. Then again, over a black t-shirt he wore an orange jacket bright enough to be nearly blinding.

_What the hell_, she figured, _this could be entertaining._

A shadow against the wall shifted and she realized the loudmouth was talking to someone, not just yelling to himself. _Sasuke, I guess._ The figure was long and lean and dressed all in black from Nine Inch Nails t-shirt over a long-sleeved fishnet top, to jeans with buckles running up and down the sides that plunged into heavy duty boots. A pale, pale face turned toward her, and for just a moment she was aware of regal features framed by spiky black hair that made her heart stop and her mouth go dry. Then, before she could stop it, her face wrinkled. _Is he wearing eyeliner?_

_Waaaiit... Sasuke?_ Sakura swallowed hard. Without noticing she took two steps forward. "It is you," she whispered.

Sasuke merely issued a "hmph" in her direction and resumed his position against the wall, one foot braced against it, hands in his pockets. Sakura realized he had earbuds in his ears, a tinny hiss issuing from his head. Her lips pressed together. _Guess he hasn't changed that much in five years._

All too soon the loudmouth was invading her personal space. "Dude! You know the bastard? Awesome! How come I don't know you?" His arms were open wide and Sakura feared the worst.

Before he could hug her, a complete stranger, she shoved a hand out. "Sakura Haruno. And you probably don't know me because I don't usually get caught."

There was a slight insult in there somewhere but the knucklehead just threw his head back and laughed. "Hah! Sweet! Naruto Uzumaki, detention specialist!" He didn't simply take Sakura's hand but grasped it joyously and pumped it up and down. "I love your hair! Is that why you're here?"

Sakura struggled to get her hand back. When she did she answered, "more or less." They walked the last few paces to where Sasuke leaned, right next to the door of the detention room.

"So how do you know the bastard, Sakura-chan? He just started attending Konoha Central now for senior year, so I thought I was his only friend." Sakura was starting to understand that despite his excited and slightly breathless tone, this was Naruto's normal, conversational voice.

Her eyes flitted to Sasuke's face, though she was trying to do anything but that. His eyes caught hers and they both looked away at the same time. She shrugged. "Middle school."

She remembered the sting of his rejection five - _or was it six? - _yearsearlier all too well. She wasn't the same person, of course. Not nearly so foolish, nor so dedicated to what other people thought of her. But it had hurt like nothing else had before that point.

Beside her Naruto prattled on. "Whoa! Middle school? That must have been sixth grade, 'cause that's when Sasuke-"

"Shut up, you idiot." Sasuke was looking at her again. "It's ancient history." No, he was studying her. With a start she realized he was working out how he recognized her.

_I guess the pink hair does throw people off._ To shove the thought of Sasuke staring at her out of her mind, she checked the time on her cell phone. "Well it's three-thirty. Where's the detention person?"

"I bet it's Kakashi again. He's late for everything." Naruto rolled his eyes.

Sakura quirked a small smile. Naruto was loud but also pretty informal. Other students wouldn't dare speak of the physics professor so casually. But Sakura was very well acquainted with Mr Hatake's trouble with punctuality.

Naruto shook his head. "I wouldn't smile yet, if I were you. I'm not kidding, the guy defines tardy. I don't get how he's supposed to set an example for us. Hey, Sasuke, remember the time he kept us waiting for two hours for Saturday school?"

"Tsh. Of course I do, loser. It was last week."

"Oh right." Naruto didn't even slow down. "Well anyway, we're probably going to be here for a while." Naruto reached to his shoulders and slid the straps of his backpack down. He tossed the blue and orange bag to the wall where it landed next to a black messenger bag. Sasuke's bookbag, guessed Sakura. "Wanna tell me why you say you don't get caught?"

Sakura was slightly taken aback. It had just been a quip in the moment, she'd meant little by it, only that she wasn't a detention regular. It implied that she courted trouble but managed to avoid it through her wits. Though now that she thought about it... Absently she scratched her cheek. "Well, let's see..."

"Whatever," announced Sasuke. "You don't dye your hair pink if you don't want to get caught."

Sakura frowned. Two things were immediately apparent – Sasuke could hear her perfectly well despite the music that was blaring in his ears and he had recalled Sakura from their pre-teen years. Well, year. Sixth grade to be exact. Sakura deliberately took in a deep breath through her nose, using it to straighten her spine so she would stand her full five feet, four and a half inches. Back then, back when she was a stupid little 12 year old with an unrequited crush that ruled her world she would have quivered – caved in – at having such harsh judgment sent her way.

But she was 17 now and Naruto might not be the brightest bulb but he was right about one thing, Sasuke was a bastard. "Maybe I'm trying to do something that just has a side effect of detention. Maybe I already pulled that thing off and if this is the worst consequence then it hardly counts as getting caught." Sasuke's face was impassive. Maybe he heard her, maybe he didn't. It pissed Sakura off. "Maybe I won't wait around for Mr Hatake anymore."

She turned on her heel, intending to march down the stairs and off campus to the bus stop. Bouncing on his toes, Naruto waved his hands. "Whoa, whoa Sakura-chan, I don't think you want to do that! Skipping out on detention means Saturday school!" Sakura stepped around him and continued forward. "And the school will call your parents!" Sakura scoffed and carried on again.

"Sakura-chan! Wait, no! Let's talk some more!" Naruto reached out to take her arm at the same time that Sakura reached the top of the stairs and came to a standstill.

"Damn," she muttered under her breath and shook her arm free from Naruto's grasp. "Don't touch me." She backed up a step as they were joined by a white haired man in loose gray slacks and a dark blue turtleneck sweater. He stopped directly in front of her. A kind of a staring match ensued. Kakashi Hatake sported his usual eye patch that led many students to imagine he was a severe individual. Sakura knew better as she took in his look of indifferent ease. He wasn't staring as much as he was waiting.

She started to frown but with a shrug a studied look of apathy came over her face. She readjusted her backpack and headed to the detention room door like it was the most natural thing in the world. Sasuke snorted; Sakura ignored him.

Sakura watched Mr Hatake unlock the door like it didn't make a whit of difference to her where she spent the next hour. Off to the side Naruto looked back and forth between her and Sasuke and their mutual looks of detachment. He scratched the back of his head and muttered to himself, "great, just great. This is gonna be loads of fun, believe it."

The boys picked up their bags and silently filed into the room. Usually it was the Health Studies classroom, but after the school day let out recalcitrant students were assigned detention there. Sakura had taken her required Health class during her sophomore year. She had passed the class with perfect scores on her tests and an overall B- thanks to multiple absences. A quick scan of the walls told her they were largely unchanged save for a new poster warning of the consequences of meth use.

Sakura took a seat by the window. Sasuke took a seat four rows over. Naruto looked back and forth between them again and with a put-upon sigh took a seat equidistant to each.

Mr Hatake pulled out a paper lunch sack from a satchel that hung by his hip and placed it on the table at the front of the room. He set the satchel next to the sack. Sakura rifled through her backpack to pull out her anatomy notes. She wouldn't be able to do all of her homework here without her computer and supplemental material but she could take care of the basics. To her right she could sense that Naruto was fidgeting. Maybe he was trying to think of something to say. A deep throat clearing made her look up.

Mr Hatake was standing over Sasuke who was doing the best to ignore him, earbuds still blaring, eyes boring holes into the bare desktop. In a calm voice Mr Hatake finally spoke, "turn it off or hand it over. Pick one." Sasuke rolled his shoulders like he was taking a moment to think. Mr Hatake spoke again in a terribly conversational tone, "if I take them I'll spend the next hour listening to your most recently played tracks. I'm sure it'll be instructional for the next time I meet with you-know-who."

Sasuke looked up then with a fierce glare for the teacher. _Nope still doesn't like being tested._ Sakura watched with avid interest. Nothing ever seemed to ruffle Mr Hatake and in return he almost never had to push his students. He made his requests and most of them, _most people_, Sakura presumed, just fell in line. But...she was perfectly aware that Mr Hatake wasn't one to be pushed around. She surmised that Sasuke already knew the rules about listening to music during detention and, furthermore, that Mr Hatake would most certainly make good on his threat.

Her wide-eyed attention was rewarded when Sasuke made an annoyed sound and reached into his pocket to turn off the player. She waited until he pulled out the earbuds and then mimicked his snort. She chortled to herself when, without looking at her, Sasuke frowned before he could control his face.

Sakura smirked. _Well, Mr Perfect he isn't anymore._ Briefly she wondered just where he had gone when he left in sixth grade and what he had done. A pang flashed through her and left her stomach feeling unsettled.

"Right," said Mr Hatake. "This is detention, you've been very bad, blah, blah. Don't be a pain and it will all be over in an hour. Do be a pain and it'll take a full 60 minutes. No talking, no eating, no listening to music or playing with toys, electronic or not." He gave a distinctly pointed look at Naruto who failed to look innocent. "You can do your homework or something that looks a lot like your homework, so long as it's not too much fun." Again he stared directly at Naruto who made a theatrical display of throwing his hands in a universal "what me?" gesture.

With that Mr Hatake turned back to the table and pulled up a chair. He sat facing the trio and pulled out a magazine from his satchel.

Sakura assumed the teacher had tuned them out. The half finished thought of Sasuke's early teen years presented itself again and she wondered if he was back now because he had found whatever it was he was looking for. She looked at her notes and tried to concentrate. _A blood pressure reading is a ratio of systolic to diastolic pressure, figures for which are yielded by..._

As if fighting off thoughts about a missing childhood crush wasn't enough, there was a loudmouth knucklehead trying to be discrete about getting her attention. Sakura held in a sigh and shot Naruto a look the third time he hissed at her. She wanted it to be an ice cold glare, but, whether or not it reached maximum chilliness, Naruto ignored it.

"Heyyy." He issued in a stage whisper. "Are you any good at algebra?"

Sakura couldn't help it, she rolled her eyes. "I took it in middle school. Why don't you ask your buddy Sasuke?" Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Sasuke scowl. This was becoming a fun game.

Naruto looked pained. "He hates explaining things to me. Plus the way he learned and does his math is just-"

Sasuke cut him off with growl that was half gurgle and half choke.

"Oi." At the front of the room Mr Hatake was looking at them over his magazine. "If she's not going to help you then you're on your own, Naruto. Next time pay better attention in Ms Yuuhi's class."

Something about he noted how Sakura wasn't willing help irked her. And at the mention of Ms Yuuhi's name Sakura gave a tiny jolt. She was her calculus teacher. "It's alright, I can help, I guess. I know Ms Yuuhi's methods."

"Alright, Sakura-chan!" Naruto was half way out of his seat, pumping a fist before Mr Hatake got him to calm down again.

"Thank you, Sakura. Just remember to keep it down." As one they glanced at the fourth person in the room. He had a paperback book open but was watching them openly. "Other people might be trying to study." There was a slight emphasis on "might."

Sakura nodded, picked up her things and circled around the desks to sit beside Naruto. She scanned the page his textbook was on. The room became silent with occupants reading and studying. She gave a little hitch of realization, whispering, "This is algebra 2! I thought you meant algebra 1."

"Well, yeah," whispered Naruto, "I am a senior, not a remedial freshman."

"Anymore," came the soft qualification from their right.

It was finally Naruto's turn to make a dirty face. "Shut up, bastard."

Sasuke didn't move his body, only turned his head slightly to look Naruto in the eye and take the challenge dead on. At this Sakura froze. It was the look of someone very used to fighting. She buried away her realization when both boys turned to look at her.

"Don't worry, Sakura-ch-" Sakura shook her head at Naruto.

"Let's get to work, ok?" she whispered.

"Uh ok."

On the other side of Naruto, Sasuke continued to stare at her with a slight frown on his face.

She managed to get through all of five minutes of explaining the factors of a coefficient before she noticed that Naruto had gotten very quiet. _That's odd. And probably not good._

Sakura had been writing with one hand and pointing at a diagram with the other. And now Naruto seemed to be staring at both. She began to withdraw them but, faster than she thought possible for him, he grabbed her left hand. He had a firm grip on her wrist but managed not to hurt her – as long as she didn't struggle. He held up her hand so the back was in the light and the swollen red knuckles in full display. "What happened to your knuckles?" he whispered.

She scowled and pried his hand off with her right. "None of your business." How sloppy. She had let herself think Naruto was harmless and allowed him within arm's reach. Stupid! "I already told you not to touch me."

Sakura ignored Naruto's offended look. She scooted her chair away. She was about to reopen her anatomy notes when a low voice spoke up.

"Since you can still use the hand you must not have hit a stationary object." Sasuke wore a cocksure smirk. "I'm guessing you gave the other person worse than they gave you."

She gave Sasuke a murderous look; what was it with these guys and not letting things be? Whatever book he had been "reading" was lying ignored on the desk as Sasuke was turned fully to them. Naruto stared at her wide-eyed. Sakura tried not to grind her teeth. Great, just great. The goof was going to be yet another person who thought she was nothing more than a powder keg that could blow up at any moment. A violent harridan who broke laws and furniture with equal aplomb. A natural disaster in a red vest top and -

"Sakura-chan, that's so cool! Who did you knock out? I gotta know!" Naruto erupted with no further regard for the sham of whispering over textbooks and class notes.

Sasuke turned away with a groan. Sakura followed suit, adding a hand to her forehead. In another heartbeat Mr Hatake loomed over them. "What did I say about making this harder than it has to be?"

Sakura brought her hands to her chest and studied her nails intently. Sasuke crossed his arms and stared off into the distance. Naruto could not be silenced. "No way, Kakashi! I gotta know! C'mon it's not fair to make me wait to ask her the same thing again later. I'll have to find her again and she'll say it's none of my business again and then I'll have to ask her again. And I won't know who's around listening and she'll get all embarrassed and say it's my fault. And I just want to know!"

Sakura listened with growing ire as Naruto worked himself into a tizzy. Of its own accord her left hand made a fist. Or rather, it tried to, but the knuckles would still have none of it. The resultant pain left her gasping.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Sakura?" Mr Hatake stepped toward her.

Instinctively she pulled back and muttered, "it's nothing."

She ignored the snort off to her right. Mr Hatake was more verbal. "It's obviously not nothing. Maybe you should go back to the nurse for some more ice."

Sakura shook her head and cradled her hand. She just wanted everyone to back off. She barely noticed when Naruto explained the nurse would have gone home for the day by that point.

"Hm. It's not track season so I don't have everything on me." Mr Hatake wandered back to his table. "Oh I know!" he brightened. He pulled out a small, squat jar.

Sakura was impressed he had such a thing on him. "Arnica."

"Ah you know what this is. Good." He walked back to her, working the cap off. He set both jar and cap in front of her. "You apply it, you probably know best how to do it. Sorry, I don't have any tape."

Sakura was grateful he took the cap off; doing it herself would have made the knuckles hurt all the more. She began working at it, trying to ignore the two boys still staring at her like an interesting science experiment.

She looked up again when she heard a desk scrape on the linoleum floor. Mr Hatake was turning around one of the desks, clearly so he could sit closer to them. She stifled a groan.

"Don't looks so upset, guys. You wanted it the hard way, so here we go." Each of the three students scowled furiously at the teacher. He continued speaking as if he were talking about a nice day at the beach. "Each of you is here for being a disruption. Perhaps you are a repeat offender." He looked at Naruto who grinned as if Mr Hatake had been praising him. "And you're barely toeing the line between being a pain and being expelled." Naruto's face fell.

"Perhaps you did something big enough and bad enough that it's going to be a while before the powers that be feel they can trust you again." This was to Sasuke. He stared at Mr Hatake with fingers laced together and held against his mouth. His gaze was steady and hard.

_Hard,_ thought Sakura, _I can't tell if he's angrier or calmer than he used to be._

"Then again," he addressed Sakura, "maybe this is your first detention in high school. You've held it together pretty well, in fact, you've been a model student...most would say. Hardly any problems that couldn't be explained and subsequently excused. And then you decided to flagrantly break with the school dress code and succumb to the cheap taunts that followed." He regarded the three of them. "Maybe you're angry and maybe you're lonely and maybe you're tired of keeping it all in, it doesn't really matter because here you are."

Sakura pretended to keep fiddling with the liniment to avoid looking at Mr Hatake. To one side the boys found the things on their desks suddenly, inordinately interesting.

"So... since you three can't keep quiet and respect detention as the dour bore-a-thon it's supposed to be, I propose an alternative. We use the rest of our time together – and keep in mind that you're all in here with me, every day, for the rest of the week, yes, I'm as thrilled as you – to talk about your failings and how they've landed you here."

Sakura gave Mr Hatake a scandalized look. Talk about her failings? She uttered squawks of disbelief, unable to make a real word come out.

Naruto babbled his disagreement while Sasuke was concise. "No way in hell."

Mr Hatake held up hand. The students quieted down, though they were now restless. "If you don't talk about yourself then the other three of us will start talking about you, guessing at just what is wrong with you and offering our best solutions for the problems in your life."

All at once the three resumed protesting. Mr Hatake let them chatter for a minute with a faint smile on his lips. They ran out of steam within a few minutes and stared back at him. Sakura could almost feel herself shaking with anger.

"Your disapproval has been noted. Alright, so let's begin. Now, _I_ don't need to guess why you were assigned detention, but your mates may not know so -"

Sakura stood up. "Nope. Not happening. I'm outta here." Ignoring the fire in her left hand, she roughly shoved her notebooks back in her backpack. "Give me Saturday school, suspend me, hell, expel me. I don't care. You're not going to dissect me for shits and giggles. At least not with me still in the room." Naruto nodded vigorously. Sasuke sat up straight.

"Sakura..."

"I don't care. You can't physically keep me here. So I'm going -"

"You won't be allowed in at least the first track & field meet in the spring, maybe more. Try me and I may not even allow you on the varsity team."

Sakura was caught up short. "I- what? I... you can't be serious!"

"I can and in fact I am. Sakura, sit down. I have been watching your discipline deteriorate over the past two years and though you can still pull off remarkable feats on your own, you've made it increasingly harder on yourself when it comes to working with others or accepting authority. Last year in my class you broke the curve on every test and out on the track you ruled the 300meter hurdles. But when I recommended you for the academic decathlon you got into a screaming match with the team captain." Sakura was sitting again by this point, staring at her hands. "Though I guess I should say I'm impressed that you got a rise out of Shikamaru. That's almost as tough as taking all state in women's hurdles."

Despite herself a small smile wormed its way out. She tipped her head forward so her hair would hide some of it. When she thought about it, she supposed having these two idiots know some of her life's problems was probably a small price to pay to run track again. She smirked. At some point she should probably apologize to Shikamaru for calling him a lazy asshole. Well, he was lazy, but not really an asshole.

"Sakura? Are you going to stay then?"

Head still tipped down so her chin was against her collarbone, Sakura spoke softly, "yeah, I guess."

"Well that's good to hear. So -"

"But I want to talk for myself." Sakura looked right at Mr Hatake. "I don't even want to think what you would say on your own about me, coach." He gave a small laugh. "Are they going to stay?" Sakura looked at Naruto and Sasuke fast enough to catch them staring at her. Naruto grinned while Sasuke looked away with a faint "tch."

"Well ultimately it's up to them. Though I think Sasuke's alternatives are far worse and I suspect he agrees. And Naruto will probably stay, though honestly his reasons for doing things make the most sense when he explains them."

Sasuke crossed his arms and kept looking straight forward. Naruto's grin deepened. "I'm not going anywhere, believe it!"

"Great." Mr Hatake sat back, straightened and crossed his legs at the ankles. "Well then, Sakura, want to tell us what you're in for?"

Her gaze drifted to the floor. She really didn't want to say it out loud. Finally she muttered, "fighting."

The others in the room shifted, unconvinced. Mr Hatake spoke, "Come on now, Sakura. You've got 20 minutes to the end of detention. There's more to it than that. You sent Taro Imura to the hospital."

The boys' reactions were swift, shock marking their faces. "Taro... Imura?" Naruto finally found his voice. "Isn't he one of those Root guys?"

The satisfaction of putting that ass Taro in his place warred with worry that now even more students at Konoha would think she was a scary, scary girl. Naruto swiftly put her worries to rest, at least where he was concerned.

"Right on! Those Root bastards need to be shown a thing or two!" He was standing now and had a hand up, clearly waiting for a high five.

"Naruto!" Mr Hataka interjected before Sakura could even think of meeting the high five. "What we're not going to do is cheer each other on in our transgressions."

"Aw but Kakashi..." Naruto whined.

"No. Sakura, explain to Naruto just how you ended up punching your classmate when he hadn't lifted a finger against you. And don't leave out the part where it was a foolish thing to do."

Sakura huffed. "Taro said some stupid crap to me and it made me mad so I hit him."

"And you shouldn't have because... it's bad to hit people? Or because it put him in the hospital?" Naruto looked confused.

Sakura rolled her eyes and was about to say "both" but Sasuke spoke first. "No, you idiot. Because striking one person in Root is striking them all."

"Violence begets violence." Mr Hatake had a benevolent look on his face.

_I can't believe this is happening. Maybe I should just go and forget about a track scholarship. _But the image of an older woman with blond hair and a very angry face flashed through her mind and Sakura stayed in her seat. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She played with the jar of arnica and worked out how best to tell the story.

"I dyed my hair for a concert I was going to on Saturday night." At Mr Hatake's gaze she added, "and because it would piss off my dad..."

* * *

The knucklehead is pretty obvious. And yes, I made Sasuke the goth in the bunch. Because when I was 17 Brandon Lee in THE CROW was the sexiest thing around (RIP). And Sakura is...the rebel? Ok, that wasn't so obvious but stick with me here. I'm rewriting a bit of her backstory (she didn't know Naruto before, but *did* have that horrible rejection from Sasuke years earlier), and hopefully it'll make some sense.


	2. Sakura Goes First

Sakura exhaled in a rush and turned to Mr Hatake. "Look it was just supposed to be for the weekend. After working at the clinic in the morning I dyed my hair and went to the show. There isn't much more to it than that."

Naruto wasn't about to let her skip what was obviously a juicy story. "Whoa, whoa. Slow down. What clinic? Where are you working at a clinic and why?"

Sakura made a face. "Oh what difference does it make."

"Well it's part of the story, right? Help me out, bastard!" Naruto appealed to Sasuke who played at disinterest by fiddling with his fingernails.

"Now, now Naruto," chided Mr Hatake. "It might be time you started watching your language. Sakura, answer Naruto with regard to the clinic."

"What?" Sakura stared at Mr Hatake, gobsmacked. He looked back calmly. "Gah, fine! I have a part time job at a free clinic downtown. Happy?"

Naruto was not deterred. "But what do you do there? And what is the clinic for? And how'd you get that job?"

"Are you kidding what does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything!" Naruto exploded. He half rose in his seat, face growing pink and then red as he spoke. "Why would you be such a good girl that you even have a part time job at a free health clinic downtown and then you go dye your hair some crazy color and go out partying and how does it have to do with getting into a fight and ending up in detention?!" He practically reverberated with excitement.

"Wha-?" Sakura couldn't quite close her mouth as she goggled at the idiot.

"C'mon! You're telling the story! You started at the clinic, what do you do there? What does the clinic do and how did you end up working there." Naruto was sitting again but his intent gaze made it clear that his sights were set on getting the story out of Sakura and would be dogged in his pursuit.

On the other side of Naruto Sasuke idly bit down on a hangnail. Only a split second glance her way told Sakura that he was listening carefully. Mr Hatake was, of course, absolutely no help. It reminded her of his favorite advice for winning races. "Run faster than the other guy." He regarded her with the vague interest he showed in any student fumbling his way through a presentation. Sakura cursed the three males in front of her silently but bitterly.

"Augh! Ok, fine." Sakura threw her hands up then flopped back in her seat. "It's an outreach clinic for poor people who have no money. A lot of them are homeless and in desperate need of someone to take care of them. Many of them have problems with drugs. It's run by Dr Tsunade Senju, I work for her. She has enough money from a grant from the government to keep the clinic open but she can barely afford a staff.

"Two years ago when I took biology with Ms Shizune I did a project on certain blood markers ...uh... just certain traits in the blood that react differently from person to person. Ms Shizune liked it and I happened to tell her that I want to be a doctor, maybe with a specialty in researching blood diseases. Ms Shizune introduced me to Dr Tsunade. Um, Dr Tsunade likes us to call her that, not Dr Senju.

"Anyway, that's how I got hooked up at the clinic. Satisfied?" She stared hard at Naruto, hoping he would get the hint and leave her alone.

"Hmm. I guess so." Naruto had the gall to tap a finger to his lips as if thinking it over. "For now. But I reserve the right to ask more questions later!" He laughed hard and didn't seem to notice or care that he laughed alone.

Sakura rolled her eyes and sighed. "Whatever. So that's where I started my day on Saturday. It has nothing to do with where I ended up. I went home to get ready for the concert..."

"Ooh! What concert?!"

"Will you let me finish! At home I dyed my hair and got dressed up. My friend Ino Yamanaka got her boyfriend to drive them over and pick me up."

"Oh you're friends with Ino?" Naruto's forehead creased like he was actually trying to think a tricky thought.

"Yeah what of it?" Sakura growled. She nearly made a fist before the pain in her hand reminded her what a bad idea that was.

Naruto was startled and taken aback. "Ack. Uh, nothing." Suddenly the floor tiles became very interesting to him.

Sakura took a moment to calm herself down. "She helped me finish up. She told me that she was worried that there might be some trouble at the show. Her ex was going to be there and he hated her new boyfriend. It's stupid but that's the kind of drama that follows Ino around."

Movement caught Sakura's attention. Sasuke made a face. He stared at her openly.

Sakura scowled. "You want to make something of it?" She could feel her skin heating up, an itch in her joints to move, to get rid of the annoyance. It was getting old, trying to hold in the desire to pound the everloving crap out of everyone who felt it necessary to be an ass on her time.

Presently she realized both boys and her coach were staring at her, holding themselves in a state of readiness. It was like the room was holding its breath waiting for her to jump up and break something. With a soft growl Sakura grabbed the edges of the desk and forced herself to take long breaths until the fury passed.

"Anyway. The show was Her Bones at the Matrix. They're a tribute band for The Misfits."

"Hn." Sasuke was watching her with a curious look on his face.

"What, now you don't like the Misfits?"

"No, they're not too bad. I just wonder how good your ID is, to get into the Matrix. They don't have all ages shows." Sasuke continued gazing at her without revealing a single thought behind his midnight eyes.

Sakura pressed her lips together and stared back. She could feel Naruto and Mr Hatake, especially Mr Hatake, she imagined, boring holes into her head with their eyes.

She gritted her teeth. _He didn't have to do that. He really didn't have to point that out or say it out loud. Coach would have figure it out soon enough. Gah. What a jerk._

Her eyes watered and her jaw began to ache but Sakura refused to break off her staring match with Sasuke or to otherwise relax.

"Keep going, Sakura." Mr Hatake sighed.

When Sakura refused to speak Mr Hatake continued, "before I take over the story."

Sakura groaned deep in her throat. She tore her eyes from Sasuke's to give Mr Hatake a particularly nasty look. She heaved a sigh and continued. "We got into the show just fine. I'm not telling you how or why. Feel free to make up your own story."

In truth, it was easy enough since she knew the check in staff. It was headed up by Hana Inuzuka, Kiba Inuzuka's relatively cool big sister. Sakura had known Kiba since 8th grade when he first invited her over to his house under the guise of tutoring him in Earth science and to meet his new puppy. Sakura soon realized the invitation was motivated by a crush on her and letting him down had been awkward. But it only got more awkward when a couple of years later she ran into Hana at an all ages show and they had joined a group of friends at all-night diner after the show. Sakura would hesitate to call she and Hana "friends" but would say that they had an awful lot in common. Hana could actually keep up with talk about blood pathogens, kidney capacity and toxin anti-inhibitors. Furthermore, it was from watching Hana that Sakura know how to throw a mean lefthanded haymaker.

Naruto gave a yelp as he realized something. "Hey, wait! You're just this young girl?! How do the guys not-"

"Shut up, Naruto, you don't know anything." Great, something else Sakura didn't want to have to explain.

"I know guys."

"Tsch. Whatever. It's not like I haven't done it before. I know these people. And I know how to be ready if shit goes down." Sakura arranged herself in her desk as she spoke. The left leg was bent so she could leap out in a moment without getting tangled and the right leg was folded under her, ready to press off the ground for instant propulsion.

Mr Hatake was having none of it. "Language, Sakura."

"You let an ID card fly by, but heaven forbid the s-word." Sasuke looked bemused. Sakura couldn't fathom what game he was playing but he was having too much fun to for it to be assumed he wasn't trying to pull off something.

Sakura sighed. "Whatever. So it's a rough crowd. I know half the people there and I can take most of them."

"Yeah! Sakura-chan is bad-ass!" A fist pumped into the air.

"Naruto," groaned Mr Hatake.

"Heh." Sakura took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "So anyway. We're in and we're hanging out-"

"Drinking," supplied Sasuke.

"Shut it. We're hanging." Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw Sasuke looking ever so faintly surprised. Yeah she would tell him exactly how she felt if he kept pushing her. "And Ino and I are over in a space where we can dance and her boyfriend, Nomu, I think, runs into Ishimaru, her ex. They get into a pushing match and I'm just trying to keep Ino from going over and getting caught up in the cross fire. But behind me I hear voices I recognize. It's Taro Imura and Kimichi Akashima; they're in my government class. And they're not talking about Ishi and Nomu, they're talking about Ino."

"Hn."

Nails dug into her desk as she forced herself to keep from jumping up and throwing her desk at Sasuke. She growled. "Don't say it. I know what people say about Ino. I hear them all the time. That she's a slut, that she goes with any guy who pays."

Naruto's voice was so calm Sakura would almost have sworn it wasn't the knucklehead who spoke. "Do you think it's true, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura choked on a few responses before she was able to speak properly. "I...it's just that...it's not my place to talk about it. She's my friend. And she can choose for herself. I wouldn't be a good friend if I called her names for her choices."

Naruto pursed his lips. "I guess I get it. But I think the bastard's still a bastard even if he's my best friend."

Sakura looked pointedly at Sasuke (he was pretending his wasn't interested in the conversation again). "That's kinda weird, you know."

"Hmph." Sasuke crossed his arms stared blankly in the direction of chalkboard.

"Um, well anyway. I fucking hate it..."

"Sakura." Mr Hatake's tone held a warning. He was running out of patience for casual foul language.

Sakura was long past out of patience. "GAH ok. I FreakING hate it when I hear people talking about her like that. And that's what Taro and Kimichi were saying. Like they had a right to her body and a right to talk about her however they wanted. Such Ass... AUGH jerks. Just big jerks.

"I wanted to go tell them off but Ino started to go toward the fight. So I just gave them a look. I think they didn't realize that they knew me at the time. They just pointed at my hair." Sakura ran a hand through her hair and drew several strands over her eyes. Then she blew them back over her face until they fell into place. "Then I went after Ino."

"By that point security caught up and were hauling out the boys so Ino and I went after. Nomu had a bloody nose and got taken to the security office to take care of it. Ichi had a knife so he got thrown out."

"I thought they did thorough security." The ever-so-helpful comment issued from somewhere under Sasuke's disinterested facade.

Sakura thought to herself, _not particularly. The people who let underage girls party with a few hundred rockers aren't going to spectacularly careful. _Hana did have the tendency to be lenient when checking girls, whether it came to their ID or what exactly was in their purses. And from what Sakura had seen, most security officers were the same (only not remotely as bright).

Sakura continued. "When the nose quit bleeding we went to leave. But Nomu's tires were slashed. So we waited around for a tow truck. Taro and Kimichi went by and tossed a beer in a cup at us, which mostly splashed me and Ino." Sakura let out a hiss at the memory. The cursing she and Ino had issued then would have made Mr Hatake's ears catch fire.

"Sooo...I finally got home reeking of beer. And my Dad was in." Sakura scowled at her desk. "OK, so at first I wasn't trying to piss off my dad. He doesn't live with me. He would never have known except he decided to drop in that very night. So of course I get the third degree. Who are my friends? What do they do? Who are their parents? How are my grades? Has Dr Tsunade fired me yet? And WHY WAS MY HAIR PINK?!

"Channaro! I had to stand there in clothes stained with beer, after a shit (gah I'm sorry! Crappy!) night and answer my dad for an hour like I owe him something. Tsch. He kept making it sound like it was my fault for getting beer on my clothes and like I was a delinquent or something...that's when I decided I didn't care what happened, the only part I liked about that night was my new hair. So I was going to keep it pink and didn't care who got mad. I still don't." Sakura finished out of breath, knowing she was blushing from the now-pink roots of her hair to her collar. She was having trouble controlling her voice and it came out between a choked cry and a weepy whine.

From the other side of the room Sakura heard, "why doesn't your dad live with you?" Sasuke had again abandoned his disinterest. But Sakura wasn't about to let him get ahead in his stupid game.

She looked directly at Sasuke. "Because I don't want him to."

Naruto picked up the questioning once again. "Uh? Oh, do you live with your mom?"

Sakura gritted her teeth.

A ring tone issued from Mr Hatake's bag at the front of the classroom. With a sigh he stood up. "Well technically our time is up, Naruto, so I can't make Sakura answer you." He walked to the front of the room.

"AWW!"

Sakura ignored the idiot and began shoving her things into her backpack. She was almost home-free.

"But Sakura, you should know by now that Naruto is nothing if not persistent." Mr Hatake had plucked up his phone and was poking at the screen to try to make the music stop.

"C'mon Sakura-chan where's your mom?"

Refusing to look at him, Sakura continued tucking in loose items in her backpack. When she was sure everything was secure she tugged a strap over her shoulder without looking at Naruto.

"Sakura, will you be at the track in the morning." Mr Hatake didn't look like the answer interested him at all but Sakura knew better.

"Yeah." She moved down the aisle, intending to leave the room, the school and her ridiculous detention-mate behind.

"Sakura-chan! Your mom! C'mon don't leave me hanging!" Naruto bounced on his feet.

Sakura looked Naruto in the eye. Her face showed nothing, she was sure. She felt totally blank inside. "It doesn't make any difference." She continued toward the door.

"It makes all the difference! Don't you live with your mom? Did she get mad about your hair? Or fake ID or going to a club with fighting and beer and dirty jokes? C'mon!" Naruto had climbed over desks to get to the door ahead of Sakura. Now he braced both hands against the doorway to block her.

A single bolt of anger shot through Sakura. She stared at Naruto's arm. Then in a single fluid motion she brought the outer edge of her hand down hard on his wristbone. With a yelp Naruto pulled up his hand (which was flooded with the sensation of pins and needles). Sakura squeezed by him and opened the door.

Sakura looked him in the eye. "It doesn't matter. She's dead. If you follow me another step, once we get off campus I will tear you apart." She stepped out the door and walked down the hallway without looking back.

* * *

Ugh. Of course I meant to get to this ages ago. Haha life. Such a kidder. On a personal note, it used to make me so mad that friends would get labeled sluts just because they dated more than two boys in a year. I wondered what it would be like for someone to deal with that when they're already angry about a lot of other things. And, in general, I just remember 17 being a really angry year... I'm changing the categories of this story to romance/friendship. There's a lot more plot hopefully to come, but over all I want to look at Team 7's relationships.


	3. Morning Training

_7am Tuesday morning._

Sakura dropped her bookbag on the bleachers and yawned. She had practically sleepwalked to the track that morning and the comfort and warmth of her bed still called to her. Sakura shook her head and jumped up and down in the thinning mist to finish waking up.

She stretched her arms over her and pulled herself, from fingertips to toes, as far as she could go. Then she dropped and spread her feet outside each shoulder and pulled herself over the outside of each calf slowly and deliberately. She loved the feel of getting to know every muscle anew and feeling the tension and flexing in her tendons. She put a foot far forward and dropped into a lunge. Then she repeated on the other side.

Sakura continued stretching and smiled when a lock of pink hair flopped into her face. She had tied it back for her workout but her hair was too short to keep it all back. She tucked it behind an ear and fondly remembered the night before when Dr Tsunade had done the same. She had worn an amused face and Sakura believed it helped keep her in the doctor's good graces after showing up to the clinic an hour later than usual. _Man, I'm going to have work all day on Saturday to make up for the time in detention._

Sakura felt caught between a groan and a giggle. Despite her irritation at having to open herself to Naruto and Sasuke she had enough time to reflect on how strange and how strangely fun the hour had been. Naruto was so informal and friendly, if a bit pesky with his curiosity. The few people Sakura dared call friends rarely showed so much interest in her life. She had realized as she rode the bus the night before that she wanted to talk about her mother with someone but it never seemed appropriate. And then there was Naruto and an hour where she wasn't allowed to go anywhere. It would be fine if she told him, right? He didn't know her so it couldn't change his opinion. Just as long as he didn't push her. Sakura hated being pushed.

Footsteps on the gravel let her know she was not alone. She had been sitting on the ground, bent double over straight legs and reaching for and past her toes. She sat up and look around. A groan issued from her mouth before she could stop it. She would not have minded – or perhaps would have minded it less – seeing Naruto and Sasuke again at detention, but she wasn't ready to deal with them this early in the morning. Naturally, Mr Hatake was no where to be seen. But Sakura knew better than to expect him any earlier than 30 minutes into her routine, assuming he came by at all.

Sakura grunted as she pushed herself to her feet. She smacked loose gravel from her butt as the boys approached. Naruto grinned as if he were meeting an old friend and Sasuke looked as bored as ever. "What're you doing here?" Sakura had a feeling she wouldn't like the answer but had to ask anyway.

"We came to cheer you on, Sakura-chan!" Naruto bounced in his eye-searing orange jacket as he tossed his book bag next to hers. "You're gonna be better today than you were yesterday and make better time this year than you did last year! Believe it!"

Sakura smacked her forehead. "You really are annoying at all hours."

A few feet away Sasuke, again in head-to-toe black with matching eyeliner, snickered. "You should see the loser in the middle of the night after we watched a horror movie."

Naruto yelped and Sakura had to bite down a laugh at imagining that tortured squeak coming from the same boy scared of the dark. "Oi! Bastard! Don't go saying things like that!"

"Like what," Sasuke challenged. "Like how every loose floorboard makes you start crying and you make me sleep in your room to make sure the resurrected killer doesn't come out of your closet?" He shook his head and added a "tch" for good measure.

"Hey, bastard, I don't talk about all the stupid stuff you do when you see a movie with vampires!"

That got a severe look from Sasuke. "I don't do stupid things."

"Yeah-hah! I saw you, bastard! I saw you practicing your brooding look in the mirror!"

"WHAT! I never-!" Sasuke grabbed for Naruto and tried to put him in a head lock. Naruto dodged his arm with a surprising grace and twisted around Sasuke to grab him from behind. Before his hands could lock in front of Sasuke's chest, Sasuke stepped back and swept a leg up under one of Naruto's, knocking him back and sending him crashing to the ground. Naruto scrambled up to wrap his arms around Sasuke's legs, tumbling him to the ground as well.

The boys only stopped when they heard giggles. Sakura had clapped a hand over her mouth but she couldn't stop laughing at the sight. The two young men rolled in the dirt with no sense of propriety and certainly no interest in really hurting each other and it made her think. _Just like brothers with an argument a decade old._

Sasuke released Naruto with a "hmph" and set about patting the dirt from his clothes. Naruto scratched the back of his head and grinned at Sakura. Sakura shook her head again and turned her focus to the track. _A few sprints and then I'll time myself on a 200m._

She walked to the track and worked to shut out the fact that the boys were watching her intently. It was just her and the track. Her feet would push off the ground. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction; the ground would push back against her. She would bounce off the earth and the earth would bounce off her, she would dig into the ground and the ground would drive her forward. She selected a track in the red clay and jumped up and down, pulling her knees to her chest. Then she jumped with twists in the middle. When she was satisfied that her body was warm, she crouched into starting position.

"WOOOHOOO SAKURA-CHAN! YEAH YOU CAN DO IT! BELIEVE IT! YOU'RE SUPERFAST! YOU'RE AMAZING! YEAAHHHHH SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura nearly toppled over at the sudden noise. She stood upright, glaring daggers at the blond who had chosen a crucial moment to become one hundred times more annoying than she previously thought possible. Her eyes slid to slits as she noted in a fury that Sasuke merely stood to one side with both hands over his hears. He was smirking ever so slightly.

A fist with torn skin over the knuckles formed itself at her side. Her lips pressed together as his yelling finally wound down.

"Hm? Sakura-chan? Aren't you going to run?"

"Na-ru-TO!" She growled as she advanced to his position. At his wide-eyed look she all but screamed, "shut the fuck up!"

The boy blanched and he managed to look almost scandalized. "Sakura-chan, I was cheering you up!"

"Cheering _on, _you idiot." Corrected Sasuke.

"Oh yeah. Sakura-chan-"

"Shut. Up." She glared at each boy in turn.

"But-"

"Quiet!"

Naruto gave a little "eek" and quivered, looking like he was trying to be ready to defend himself from a blow. To be fair, Sakura was strongly considering hitting him.

Sakura gritted her teeth. "I'm just training so I don't need any cheering. And no one likes cheering that just sounds like an idiot screaming, ok? Besides it's way too early to be that loud. So just keep quiet and let me work." She glowered at him, hoping that she wouldn't have to repeat herself.

Sakura turned her glare to Sasuke who returned it with a bold, blank face. _What the hell is his problem, anyway?_

With a final grump Sakura returned to the track. She felt warm enough to peel off her jacket, which she dropped in the lane beside hers. With no further prep she dropped into the starting position.

Sakura felt the breath she drew flow into her lungs and then out. Her heart beat and the pulse echoed in her hands and feet. Her skin softly rippled with anticipation. At the second exhalation her lips curved into a grin. She pulled in one more breath and shot forward, pulling herself over her feet, tearing at the clay with the rubber, demanding the earth spin in the direction she desired.

Her arms pumped and her toes worked inside her shoes to grip the ground and fire over it. Sakura loved the feel of her whole body moving as one strong element through the air.

Sakura loved to feel like no one could catch her.

In a moment she crossed the 50m mark and let herself slow down to a pause. She wheeled around and regarded the track. Not bad for the first run. She bounced on her toes and started thinking about a run back to start.

But again, Naruto started his damned shouting. "Sakura-chan! Woo!" He jogged down the sidelines toward her, trailed by Sasuke. Hands on her hips, Sakura groaned.

Naruto approached her, holding up the discarded jacket. "Wow, Sakura-chan, that was amazing! You were like...like a gazelle! No, wait, you were like a cheetah! You totally ran like crazy! No wonder Kakashi says you're the best on the team!"

Sakura gave Naruto a confused, slightly annoyed look. "Coach wouldn't say that."

"Well he said you're the best woman in the state! Didn't he, Sasuke?"

"Loser, he said she took all-women's in hurdles. She won a competition." Sasuke's face was intent but unreadable.

"Well there, see! She's the fastest in the state!" Naruto offered her jacket.

Sakura waved off the jacket and rolled her eyes. "Calm down, I'm not even the fastest in this school. But I'm ok on hurdles."

"But-"

"Just be quiet and let me get this done, already. Gah!"

Sakura crossed her arms and looked down the length of the track. This next run should be to pay attention to her heels, she decided.

Beside her Naruto twittered about who knew what. To the side of track Sasuke looked on with a bored expression, hands in his pockets.

Sakura decided if Naruto was going to talk her ear off he may as well give her information that made some sense. "So does Sasuke sleep over a lot? Your bed must be big for the both of you." She loaded meaning into the second option. It was juvenile, and only funny if the two were friends and nothing more. _For all I know Sasuke really is gay and Naruto is a special kind of flamboyant._

It worked. Naruto gave a little scream and fell back step, waving his hands. "No way, Sakura-chan! We're not _together_-together! The house me and the bastard live in...I mean, we..." he seemed to lose steam.

Sasuke had angled away from Sakura with a scowl. She frowned. The sensitive subject wasn't their relationship, she guessed, but their living arrangement?

"I don't understand. You live together?" She asked.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck. "Uh yeah, I guess we do."

"Tch" was Sasuke's contribution.

For a moment Sakura forgot the track and looked directly at Naruto. "You...guess?"

"Uh, well technically he," Naruto indicated Sasuke with a jerk of a thumb, "still lives at the boy's home." Naruto paused and Sasuke scuffed his boots in the gravel. Sakura waited. "But it's just better for everyone if he just stays at the house where I am." Naruto finished his speech in an uncomfortable tone.

Something about his his choice of words – and how his antics had completely disappeared – struck Sakura as strange. His attitude toward his house was very odd. Turning back to the track Sakura asked, "Did you two meet at the boy's home"

"Oh yeah. Well the bastard was at the home for a couple of years before we really got to know each other. We saw each other often but it wasn't till junior high when Kakashi came to teach us that we got to know each other. You should have seen us then, Sakura-chan! We fought all the time and totally hated each other!"

Sakura had been listening with half an ear as she stooped to pick up some of the red clay gravel from the track and let it sift through her fingers. There was barely a breeze though the morning air was still thick, a low pressure that would lighten as the day gained heat.

The last comment, however, caught her attention. "You met Coach back in sixth grade?"

Naruto grinned as he inhaled to begin his answer. Sakura realized she was losing the time to do what she had gotten up so early to do.

"Wait," she said, just as Naruto was about to speak. "Let me do another run and then answer me."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sasuke smirk as Naruto stepped over to him and off the track.

"And don't cheer me!" Sakura interrupted Naruto again just before he was about to open his mouth. "Just let me concentrate."

Naruto clapped both hands over his mouth. Really, she couldn't make heads or tails out of him. One minute he was a loud dufus with no understanding of boundaries and the next minute he spoke straight from the heart, expressing more pain and love than any high school boy she'd ever known would ever care to admit. Was he an idiot child with the emotional insight of a saint? Or a very mature 17-year old who played at having the mentality of a grade schooler?

Sakura shook her head lightly, reminding herself that the mystery didn't rate against any of her priorities. She had things to get done.

She ground her shoes into the clay and then kicked off loose dust. She hopped and twisted at the waist to loosen her hips. She chose a lane and putting her awareness in the soles of her feet, she dropped into a ready position. Inhale – to her marks, exhale – get set. A soft, sharp push with her breath – go!

Sakura worked to keep her feet in line the way Coach had instructed. Discipline in her heels would help her control her steps (and her leaps) and keep energy waste to a minimum. Of course, attention so attuned would let it slip in other places and she became aware that her balance didn't lean over her feet, but a bit behind them. At the end of the run she slowed to a halt with a frown.

"What's the matter, Sakura-chan? That wasn't as fast as your last run!" Naruto bounced on his toes only a few feet away. Had he run with her? "Me and the bastard could almost keep up with you!" Well that answered that. Much further back Sasuke strolled along with hands in pockets.

Shoving down the urge to grumble at him, Sakura just gave him a dirty look for startling her. "I didn't run as hard as I could this time because-" a car engine roaring up to the gate at the track cut her off. She and Naruto looked up to see an old Pontiac GT – with a refurbished and souped up engine if the noise was any indication – coming to a stop at the curb.

Sakura cursed softly. Two boys – well, high school seniors just a few months shy of 18 – climbed out of the little red sports car. Kimichi Akashima and Shinichiro Ito, basketball stars and unabashed members of Root. She watched as they strode onto the track field like they owned the place.

Beside her Naruto whispered, "do you know these guys?"

Sakura answered quietly, "yeah." Distantly she marveled at how Naruto could go without knowing Konoha High's star forward and the point guard for the state All Star team two years running. At the forefront of her mind was the thought that she had better not turn her back on them.

Naruto raked fingers across the back of his head, an expression Sakura was coming to realize that indicated uncertainty. "Are they on the track team?"

Sakura wanted to laugh. They were certainly not built like track runners. Kimichi had even put in a season as second string running back on the football team before concentrating on basketball. The two were walking toward the track as if they didn't have a care in the world, but she spied their eyes and carefully took note of how they flickered to her. Sakura had no illusions. They weren't here to train.

"Well how do you know them, Sakura-chan?"

She was formulating just how to explain to Naruto that they probably only knew they were looking for a girl with pink hair but Kimichi spoke first.

"Hey Shinichiro, looks like the track is already in use."

"Right, Kimichi, and it's Sakura-chan!" The way Shinichiro said her name made Sakura want to snarl. It held so much disgust she hated him for spoiling it.

"You don't mind, do you Sakura-_chan_? We just want to warm up."

"Hey, I know, Kimichi! How about a race! We can test ourselves against a total track star." He walked up to Sakura and smacked her on the arm with the back of his hand. It was common enough among guys on the same team, but Sakura had to force herself to keep from flinching or dodging, knowing full well that either move would just encourage them.

Sakura didn't dare look them in the face and just held still and tried to think. Nothing came to mind. Beside her Naruto was becoming increasingly antsy, switching his weight between his feet and looking from her to the boys and back again.

"Sakura-chan?" he began to ask.

"Yeah, Saku-CHAN. Don't you want to race us?" Kimichi's voice was part sneer and part sugary begging, like she was being mean for not agreeing to it immediately. "Maybe you're too good for us?"

"Oi!" interjected Naruto. "Don't make Sakura-chan sound like-"

"It's ok, Naruto," Sakura cut in. She raised her eyes to Kimichi's and leveled all the disgust she had for him in one look. "We can run a quick race."

Naruto made a face like he smelled something bad. "But, Sakura-chan, it's not-"

"I said it's ok. Go wait on the sidelines." Without looking she pointed off the track.

Naruto grumbled and walked off. Sakura spared a small smile for his back; it was sweet that he tried to defend her.

Sakura chose the outermost lane on the track but Shinichiro stepped into it ahead of her. She tried to step into the lane two over from him but Kimichi cut her off there forcing her into the lane exactly in between them. She felt the tension ratchet up and guessed if she tried an inside lane the boys would shuffle again to sandwich her. Nerves started to strum, but it wasn't the sort that came with racing, but rather those that came from a mosh pit about to explode onto the entire floor.

She took long breaths even as her hands twitched. Each of the boys was nearly a foot taller than her and it wasn't a stretch to imagine they were more than 100 pounds heavier. In the right circumstances she could take on one and hope for even odds, but these were not those circumstances and she'd never be able to fight two. Her palms were sweaty, she realized. She rubbed red clay into to them.

_Kimichi can run, he's the bait for me to race against. Shinichiro can block, he'll try to knock me down._ Sakura settled her feet into her marks as if it were a real race and quietly took in Shinichiro's stance. He could strike with his arm and hit her head or shoulder. She should pull back if she saw that coming. Or he could kick out and knock her feet out from under her, in which case her best defense would be to shoot forward ahead of it.

Nerves were jumping and her heart was slamming in her chest and outlining every detail of the experience was the broad black line of fury. How she hated their nonchalance, their determination to ruin her work, how she despised everything that brought this moment about, their stupid friend Taro, her short temper, their incidental cruelty, the whole damned world was at fault for this moment. Sakura seethed and grit her teeth as Kimichi dug into a pocket.

He held out a flat silver disc. It was a student-athlete medal, awarded the previous year. "We'll use this." He announced.

Sakura gave a short nod and got into position. Her stomach clenched awfully. She had missed earning a student-athlete medal by one grade; she had earned only a B- in her English class. And Kimichi would throw his to the ground as a way of calling the race.

Shinichiro dipped into a crouch, ready to run. Kimichi got to his marks and held up the disc. He tossed it up, flipping end over end. The second the rim touched clay Sakura stepped off with a grunt and propelled herself forward. If she could get past the boys she would have nothing to fear.

Four steps in and Sakura edged past Shinichiro. But Kimichi was excellent at scrambling and he remained pegged to her side. At six steps she almost felt him twist and understood a the back of a fist was coming her way before she saw it. She tried to haul her weight back and dodge but everything had been given to diving her forward, toward the finish line. A foot hit something – she realized Shinichiro was in her blind spot.

"Sakura!"

"Sakura-chan!"

She was going to fall. Arms wrapped around her waist as her hands shot out to protect herself from the ground, her feet stopped touching the track and for a moment all she saw was sky. The clouds were thinning.

In confusion Sakura kicked and wriggled, held off the ground by someone. But the moment resolved itself and Sakura was amazed when her feet stopped swinging like she was a rag doll and instead dropped to the ground. For a second she had tried to tear the arms off her midsection but now held on, not trusting her legs to bear her weight.

In front of her Kimichi had whirled around and had a look of fury on his face. Shinichiro had lost his balance and fallen to his knees. With a snarl he climbed to his feet.

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized the arms around her, still holding her fast, were covered in fishnet, fingernails were painted black. She could feel Sasuke pressed behind her, breathing lightly. _How the hell did he grab me so fast?_

Kimichi took a step forward but out of the corner of Sakura's eye there was an orange spark. Suddenly Naruto stood between, the image of righteous indignation. "What the hell did you do that for?!" he bellowed.

Kimichi shouted around him. "You're fucking dead, bitch!" He and Shinichiro stepped forward again, silently driving Naruto out of their way.

"NO DAMNED WAY, YOU JERKS! You hurt my friend, you-"

_Friend?_

Shinichiro focused on Naruto with a sneer. "Get the hell out of the way, punk."

Naruto drew himself up to full height and Sakura realized with a start that he was almost as tall as Shinichiro and half again as broad. "I'm not a punk! I'm Naruto Uzumaki and you're the jerk who's going to apologize to Sakura-chan for trying to hurt her!"

Sakura tensed all over again. Behind her Sasuke adjusted his weight, the better to leap into action.

Kimichi's face contorted. "You fucking little-"

"Why what a beautiful display of youthful passion so early in the morning! Rivals challenging each other is is always so inspiring!"

Sakura's eyes went wide as the teens' heads slowly swiveled to the opposite side of the track. Might Guy was one of the unlikeliest people for any task other than making people laugh at his ridiculous ways, from how he spoke to what he wore. Today was no different as he bounded toward them in a skin-tight green body suit, a fanny pack hanging in just the right spot to leave at least something to the imagination. She made a noise that was both a laugh and a groan. Coach Guy assisted both the football and track teams. He was quite an expert on "youthful passions" and more than ready to deflate them.

"What is this?" continued Coach Guy as he neared them. "Kimichi Akashima and Shinichiro Ito and Sakura Haruno? You can't all be here for football training, though I long wished you would return to us, Kimichi-kun! Sakura, are these boys recruits to the track team, perhaps?"

The tension ebbed from the scene as Coach Guy blatantly ignored what had been about to be an out and out fight. Sakura tapped Sasuke's arm so he would release her. "N-no, coach. Um, I just came out to train and..." Shinichiro was giving her a murderous look. Telling on them would just invite worse repercussions. "Uh, they came out to cheer me on." It was such a lame explanation, Sakura felt like an idiot using Naruto's own reasoning. She desperately tried to think of something else.

Kimichi made an aggravated noise. "We're done, coach. We just wanted a race, that's all." With a nod to Shinichiro, he added, "we'll test ourselves against Sakura some other time."

Without looking at Naruto or Sasuke, Kimichi and Shinichiro turned toward the gate and Kimichi's GT. Kimichi easily swung a hand to the ground and picked up his student-athlete medal from the ground before proceeding on. Only a twist of Shinichiro's eye turning back toward her let her know this wasn't over, not by a long shot. She felt herself heat up again.

But a few feet away someone burned even hotter. "Damn right, you better walk away!" Naruto shouted. "You better leave-"

"Naruto," Sakura groaned, "you're making it worse."

Coach Guy cleared his throat and the trio looked to him again. "Sakura, are you going to continue to train? First period will begin soon."

"Oh, no, Coach. I'm done for today."

He looked at Naruto and Sasuke in turn. "And your cheerleaders?"

"Uh, I don't...know?" Naruto looked quite pleased with himself while Sasuke looked peeved at being called a cheerleader.

"Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun, right?" Guy addressed them. "Kakashi mentioned you to me. If you are truly eager to aid Sakura then I suggest you don't help to complicate her predicament." Then he threw his head back and laughed, "though your determination reminds me of when I was young and full of fire to protect my friends!"

Sakura stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. _Just when I start to think I understand Coach Guy he always goes and says weird things._ "Thanks, Coach Guy. I'm going to go wash up and go to class. See you later."

She walked back to where her jacket had last been and then to her bookbag. Her heart still shuddered and her breath was unsteady. Abruptly she realized Naruto and Sasuke were still flanking her, but with enough space so she wouldn't feel crowded. She wheeled on them.

Sakura felt angry...yes, angry, that was it. And a little confused...and...something almost like sadness? But mostly angry. She was used to anger. "You guys didn't come here to cheer me on," she accused. "You thought you had to protect me!"

Naruto had the grace to blush and scratch at the back of his head. Sasuke looked placid, like he was contemplating the weather.

"Well knock it off, I don't need any help from you!" She turned around sharply and stomped into the girl's locker room and showers to rinse off the sweat and grit from training.

It never occurred to Sakura to thank them. She also didn't think to ask Sasuke the question she murmured to herself as ran fingers over the area where his arms had been, "what was that all about?"

* * *

I always wonder why people make extensive apologies when it takes a while to get to the next update. It's not like anyone owes any updating... And life is a real thing, that takes real time and energy. But then I go and take months between updates and I feel *so* guilty that I don't have the time to write. Ok, I get it. Though I feel I owe my apology to my story. It's just a lovely little thing in my head and I've promised I would take it out to play... Well, little story, I'm very sorry. I'll get you out and into the sunshine, no matter how long it takes!


	4. Tuesday Lunch

_12:15pm Tuesday, Lunchtime_

Sakura chose an empty lunch table in a corner in the courtyard outside the cafeteria. She swung her bookbag onto the lunch table where it landed with a satisfying impact. She looked at it with a hand on her hip and wondered what to do next.

"Why are you looking at your bag like it did something wrong to you?" Ino quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Hi, Ino."

"And so cheerful too. What's eating you today?" Ino frowned. "Speaking of eating, where's your lunch?" She stepped forward with a tray loaded with cafeteria roast beef and fixin's. She set it on the table next to Sakura's bookbag and turned to face her. "If you're trying to diet again you should have told me. I'd totally be your diet buddy."

Sakura didn't really know what to say. She kind of didn't really even want to be around Ino at the moment. Finding a quiet corner in the library and having a private cry was about all Sakura could imagine doing. Except...she was also hungry.

"Sakura." Ino made a face. "You're acting weird."

"Sorry." With a sigh Sakura threw herself at the bench. Ino followed her. "It's just..." Sakura heaved another sigh and looked at her hands.

"Is it about those Root guys?"

Sakura nodded. She rested her head on one hand and watched Ino pick at her food.

Ino sighed and put down her plastic fork. "Ok, Forehead, I'm only going to say this once so listen up: Thanks. You didn't have to rescue my honor or whatever – I don't care what those idiots think! But I appreciate that you've got my back." Ino looked back to her food. "But I swear if you're going to diet while staring at my food like your puppy died I'm going to force feed you this pudding."

A small smile forced itself onto Sakura's face. She wanted to thank Ino but her belly rumbled instead. Mortified, she clapped her arms around herself.

"Oh my god, I was totally kidding! Do I really have to make you eat?"

"No..! It's... I'm not dieting!"

"Then what the hell is going on, Sakura? I agree the cafeteria food sucks but c'mon! You've been eating it for almost four years." Ino glanced into the cafeteria and a thought came to her. "Oh my god, I get it – Root! You don't want to go in there because of those assholes!"

Sakura frowned and swiveled on the bench to sit a the table properly. "Yeah."

"Oh. Oh shit, honey I didn't know. And they're in all your classes too, huh?" Ino tucked her feet under the table but turned to face Sakura. "Are they giving you a lot of crap for punching Taro?"

Sakura nodded, staring at the table. She could just imagine a child's drawing of a cloud floating over her head, raining misery on her.

"Aw, I'm so sorry, babe. Too bad Nomu is older and already finished school or you could leave defending my honor to him." Ino gave Sakura a lopsided grin. "But the hospital! Geez you're vicious! I don't think I've ever known a guy who could...uh...Sakura? Aw... don't be like that, it's kinda cool! And Taro totally had it coming, you know he did!"

Sakura had lost her smile at the thought of putting her classmate in the hospital. It had been quite a bit of blood, she had to admit, but the nose was spectacular like that. Anyone with a basic understanding of biology knew it. It would have made no difference to Taro's broken nose if he had been rushed to the hospital in an ambulance or if he had walked there himself. But the school nurse didn't dare take any chances with Soizu Imura's son and treated it as a life-or-death emergency. Sakura sighed yet again. All that noise and shouting because she had lost her temper.

"It's ok, Ino. Or it's...whatever. I don't know. I should have figured his friends would be like this, and I should have packed a lunch."

Ino made a face. "Do you even have food at your house? Usually you're like trying to make a salad out of ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise."

"I have some stuff! Gah, you totally make it sound like I'm about to starve to death." Sakura's defense of her pantry was undermined when her belly rumbled again. "Ugh. I know! I know! I'll think of something."

"Sakura, you're still being kind of weird, you know. When have you cared what people say to you. It's only when people talk about your friends that you go all berserker on them!"

Sakura bit a lip and glanced back into the cafeteria. Too many jocks stood near the entrance to see very far, but where there were jocks at Konoha there would be Root. She looked back at her hands, laced together on the table. Idly, one thumb tested the raw skin on the other hand.

In her classes the Root members – and there was at least one that she knew of in each of her classes – had given her a wide berth, but stared at her openly. When she walked by Aimi Takahashi in Anatomy, who only last week had been partnered with her, she heard her hiss "little punk bitch!" They wouldn't try any physical punishment in class but at lunch there were no promises.

"They're not just talking." Sakura's voice was low.

"Huh?" Ino leaned in. "What do you mean?"

"They want pay back. I think Taro's friends want to..." Sakura couldn't finish the sentence. Her hands started shaking again.

Ino leaned back and goggled at her. "Are you saying they want to get revenge?! Sakura, that doesn't -"

"Kimichi Akashima and Shinichiro Ito found me training out on the track this morning!" Sakura kept her voice low but intense. "They were about to start something when Coach Guy showed up!"

Ino's mouth hung open. "Dude. Holy shi-" Ino's eyes shifted to the side and widened. "Holy...moly."

"Huh?"

"Hottie o'clock! Don't-! Don't turn too fast!" Ino hissed. "Two guys headed this way. One is blond and has some serious shoulders and the other is just all of my wet dreams of Robert Smith and Dave Navarro come true!"

It was Sakura's turn to let shock write itself plainly on her face._ Oh, no...not here too! Wait, did Ino just let on that she thought Naruto was hot?_ Sakura snorted.

"What-uh, hey!"

Sakura stood up and ignored Ino's attempts to silence her. "Now what do you guys want?" She stared at Naruto and Sasuke, still some distance away, with fists set on her hips.

"Sakura-chan! Don't be like that!" Naruto began by trying to appease but Sasuke cut him off.

"Tch I told you she would be annoying about it."

A pang went through Sakura, twisting her empty stomach powerfully. Annoying. His favorite word.

"Waaaiit..." Ino stood up. "You guys already know each other?!" Ino smacked Sakura's upper arm. "Sakura, when did you start holding out on me that you know such cute guys!"

Naruto grinned and laced his fingers behind his head. Sasuke looked as dismissive as ever. Sakura rolled her eyes and as subtly as possible moved her injured hand behind her back. She stretched the fingers to ease the complaining joints and try to relieve the angry skin. She sat back down.

"Whatever, I just met them yesterday."

"Reeeeaally." Ino's look was feral. She sat back down with distinct grace. Under her breath she muttered, "this is your chance to stake a claim; which one do you want?"

"What," Sakura hissed. "You have a boyfriend!"

"Hmm... trying to keep them both for yourself, eh? Daring, but not really your style, Sakura." Ino fired a dazzling smile at the boys as they approached.

"I...!" Sakura knew better than to try calling Ino's bluff. From the curve of Ino's eyebrow it was clear that the girl was enjoying the game and Sakura could either play along or get left out. Before Ino could pick for her she blurted out, "Sasuke! Uh... the goth one!"

At this point the boys had arrived at the table and put their things down. Sasuke was looking at her with a quirk to his head. He had clearly heard her. Sakura felt a blush flood down from her ears and over her cheekbones. Curse words flooded her mind. _Why did I say that?!_ She tried to pull a smile onto her face but knew the best she could pull off in such a hurry was a sickly rictus.

Sasuke shook his head, whatever he saw when he looked at her, it clearly wasn't worth his time. He opened his messenger bag and pulled out a squashed pair of sandwiches. Next to him Naruto produced a cup of instant ramen.

Sakura was caught mid-drool over their meager fare when Naruto spoke up, "Hey, Sakura-chan, why don't you have any food? Don't tell me you ate it already!"

"Uh, actually I still need to get it." Something else she didn't quite expect to come out of her mouth. Sakura's empty belly was beginning to talk for her. She felt if she went hungry for much longer she would pound her way through the wall of jocks and eat everything she found at the lunch counter, ladles, hair nets and all.

"Oh ok! I'll go with you! I have to get hot water for my lunch and get something for the bastard to drink." He looked at Sasuke, who had already sat down. Sasuke silently dug out a bill from his pants and handed it to Naruto. "The usual?"

"Aa."

"On it!" Naruto gave a mock salute.

"Uh...wait, Naruto." Sakura shot Ino an uncertain glance. Things could get ugly fast. "I haven't gone in yet... well, because..."

"Oh, it's ok, Sakura-chan! I understand. Those guys from this morning could be there, or their friends." Naruto gave a gleeful laugh. "But I'm not scared of them, and I won't let you go hungry because of them, believe it!" And he gave her such a delightful smile that Sakura couldn't help but smile back.

Beside her, Ino nudged her. Sakura wasn't sure whether it was because she was supposed to let Ino have her fun with Naruto or if it was because it was apparent to Ino that Sakura had a lot to tell her. Sakura forced herself to stand up and gather her courage.

Sakura pulled out her wallet with her meal card and left her bookbag on the table. She didn't dare look Ino or Sasuke in the face. She hated feeling so afraid. A funny thought occurred to her. _What would Joan Jett do?_ Sakura made a face. Since quitting school and running off to play guitar would probably have a certain imposing woman doctor ready to take her head off, she was probably better off taking her chances with Root.

She took a deep breath and turned to the cafeteria. Naruto grinned at her and they walked in.

Naruto took lead by almost literally thrusting his chest out and driving forward into the breach.

Sakura could have stepped out in front but somehow couldn't find the determination. And every time she looked at the door she wanted to dive behind Naruto.

She just couldn't explain to herself why a hall full of violent punk rock fans who routinely expressed their pent-up frustrations with fists and steel-toed boots never fazed her but a bunch of high school jocks made her nervous to the core._ Probably because the jocks will pound me for stepping out of line while a punker will just smile at a girl with pink hair._

Sakura was so lost in thought that it took Naruto a couple of tries to get her attention. "Sakura-chan, do you train every day?"

"Huh? Oh, no. Before track season I go to the track Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Sometimes I go for long jogs on Sundays."

"And when do you go work at the clinic?"

"Wednesday's, Friday's and Saturday's. Why?" Sakura's eyes narrowed.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck. "I just want to know what keeps Sakura-chan so busy!"

As they crossed the threshold into the cafeteria Sakura fought to keep her breathing even. She hissed to Naruto. "Why do you need to know everything about me so bad?"

They walked together to the lunch counter; a few guys in varsity jackets looked her way. Sakura edged a little closer to Naruto and kept her eyes trained on the food a few feet away.

"Well, I told you..." Naruto held his hands up like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't buy it! I think you and Sasuke are playing hero and trying to protect me." Sakura gripped the seams of her skirt. She felt so frustrated, so helpless. It was driving her mad. She didn't want to face high school by herself but she also didn't need people to appoint themselves her knight protectors! She wasn't a damned damsel of any kind!

Sakura looked up and realized a few people were staring at her. She sucked in a breath and marched to the lunch counter, head held high. She savagely pulled a tray to herself and pushed down the counter.

Beside her Naruto looked over his shoulder. "Jeez, Sakura-chan, haven't you ever played Capture the Flag? Don't draw attention to yourself in enemy territory."

"This isn't enemy territory! This is the cafeteria."

"True." Naruto looked around like he was taking it in. Then he grinned at one of the lunch ladies. "Anyway, is it so bad to have people to back you up?"

"I...but you just met me!"

"So?"

Confronted with logic like that Sakura could think of nothing to say. One of the lunch ladies filled her tray with hot food while another took Naruto's Styrofoam ramen bowl with an indulgent grin and filled it with boiling water. At the checkout Naruto bought a cold bottle of green tea, presumably for Sasuke. Sakura showed her meal card and was waved through.

Sakura nodded to the one way exit door past the check out. It was the long way around but it seemed wiser than testing the crowd again while laden with food. Naruto seemed to agree.

They stepped away from the counter and Sakura almost smiled. They were nearly home free. Then she froze when she noticed a girl talking to two of the jocks. Her name was Ayako Yamada and she was Root. She wasn't an athlete, but ever since Mr Hatake had recommended Sakura for the academic decathlon the year before, Ayako only had sneers for the teacher's pet.

Before Sakura could think about slipping out of the cafeteria Ayako look her way. The two girls stared at each other for a moment that felt impossibly long. Then Ayako frowned and Naruto was calling Sakura's name and the moment ended.

"Be right there," Sakura called to Naruto. When she looked back at Ayako, she was tugging on the varsity jacket sleeve of the boy next to her and pointing at Sakura.

Sakura felt ice cold and as more of the jocks turned to look at her she wanted to withdraw into herself and disappear.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto was at her side. He gestured to the side door.

Sakura gave a sharp nod and all but bolted through it.

As soon as she sat down at the lunch table Sakura released the breath she had been holding. Her hands were shaking so hard she dropped them into her skirt and pressed into her lap.

It wasn't until she looked up and saw the strange look Ino was giving her - from across the table - that she realized she had sat next to Sasuke without a thought. Her face grew hot and she immediately set to eating.

By the look of things, Sasuke had already finished his lunch. He accepted the bottled tea from Naruto with "hn." He gave Sakura a sidelong glance and then turned his attention to his drink.

Naruto had plopped down beside Ino and blew on his ramen with impatience.

Sakura shoveled corn into her mouth hardly daring to think about how strange her life had become. But she was becoming aware of an intense gaze from across the table. Ino looked like she was ready to explode.

"Mh!" Sakura flushed and swallowed her food hard. "Sorry! I got distracted." She gave her table-mates apologetic looks. "Sasuke-kun this is Ino Yamanaka. Ino, this is Sasuke-..." She had felt so rushed to introduce them the suffix flew out of her mouth before she knew it. And when she heard it she realized it gave away a lot about herself...including the fact that she couldn't recall Sasuke's last name. "...uhhh..."

"Uchiha." He finished. Sasuke's voice was grave and steady. His eyes were closed like nothing around him could touch him.

Ino gave an uncertain smile. "Nice to meet you." Her eyes flickered to Sakura and then Naruto and back with a twinkle.

Oh right. "Ino," continued Sakura, "this is-"

"Naruto Uzumaki! At your service!" Naruto had actually jumped up so he could plant a foot on the bench and hold out a hand for Ino to shake.

Ino's eyes went wide and Sakura giggled. Ino tentatively took Naruto's hand and was nearly thrown out of her seat as he grasped her hand and shook it like he was trying to get ketchup out of a particularly stubborn bottle. Sakura couldn't help but laugh harder when Ino caught Naruto's hand with her free one and pried herself loose.

"Yosh! Now we're all friends!" Triumphant, Naruto resumed his seat and dug into his ramen.

Ino was giving Sakura a magnificently dirty look. "What interesting friends you have, Sakura." Ino spoke through gritted teeth, as if she would rather bite her than speak.

"Ah..." Sakura giggled just a little more before she could settle down. "We just met yesterday. I don't know that we're really friends."

"Sure we are!" responded Naruto with a grin.

Sakura gave Naruto a look. Such a strange guy. "Well anyway they keep popping up everywhere ever since I went to detention yesterday."

"Just morning training, it's not like we're stalking you." If Sakura didn't know any better she could imagine Sasuke was pouting.

"Well, I didn't know you'd be there, and I didn't know you track me down at lunch, either!"

"Sakura-chan, we have to know that you're ok!"

Sakura felt the old irritation creep up her spine. "You don't have to do anything. Especially if it means interrupting what I was already doing."

"So you met at detention, huh?" Ino was looking at each of the three in turn. "I guess that's where the fun is."

"Well, I don't like to brag..." began Naruto.

"Yeah, right," jumped in Sakura. "And with Mr Hatake making sure everyone knows everyone else's business it's just a party." She gave Naruto a dirty look.

"Hey, I'm good with knowing other people's dirt!" Ino's eyes gleamed. "Maybe I should figure out how to get myself into detention." She grinned at Sakura and gave a tiny nod toward Sasuke.

"Yeah right...wouldn't your parents just love it if you showed up late to your shift at the flower shop because you were at detention." Sakura rolled her eyes.

Ino looked like she desperately wanted to stick her tongue out at Sakura but didn't dare with two hot guys looking at her. She sat back and gather herself then straightened up with a smirk. "So anyway, detention - that was when you decided you needed to team up to protect little Sakura? Aww... just like the Three Musketeers!"

"Huh?" Now Naruto was confused.

"Tch." Sasuke turned his head like the conversation was beneath him.

"Ino!" Sakura tried to shove a warning note into the name, letting her friend know not to press it. Anyway, this was nothing like the Three Musketeers. "You've never even read that book. And anyway," she turned her attention to the boys, "I can take care of myself."

"Yeah you did a great job of that this morning." Sasuke drawled.

Ino spoke before Sakura think of something cutting to say to Sasuke. "Wait, you guys were there? Sakura said some of Taro's friends came to her training looking for payback!"

"Yeah!" jumped in Naruto. "Those guys tried to trip her up and then when me and Sasuke got in the way they were gonna totally start a fight!"

"Oh my gosh, so you guys did save Sakura!" Ino leaned in, just dying to know all the details. It was Sakura's turn to pretend the conversation had nothing to do with her and dug into her cooling lunch.

Sakura felt her face burn as Naruto breathlessly recounted how Kimichi and Shinichiro had challenged her to a race. Then how they tripped her and Naruto made himself sound like a complete hero, making sure Sakura got out of the way before he faced down the two athletes in front of him.

Ino looked completely entranced. She only stopped Naruto once. "Wait, I don't get it. How could Sakura totally punch out Taro but Kimichi and Shinichiro were too much? Sakura, how DID you break Taro's nose? He's more than a foot taller than you!"

Sakura gave an uncomfortable shrug. Without looking up from her tray she said, "I hit him with the whole school."

At Ino's baffled look Naruto resumed the tale, noting that two versus one was far more challenging, especially the way they were on either side of Sakura.

It never occurred to Ino to ask just how Sakura got clear. Sakura had finished her food and looked down at her lap. Her arm was wrapped around her waist, just where... She looked to the side and found Sasuke looking at her at the same time. They both looked away.

Sakura finished off her juice and stood up. "I'm gonna go throw this away. Got any trash?" Barely paying any attention, Naruto and Ino pushed the remains of their lunch onto her tray. Sasuke stood up with the wrappers from his sandwiches and empty bottle.

When Sakura stepped away to carry everything to the trash bin, Sasuke walked along side her. She knew she was being completely irrational but she just couldn't stop the words coming out of her mouth as she muttered, "What, you don't think I can take out the trash on my own?"

At the bin Sakura waited with arms crossed as Sasuke tossed in his own items. He looked at her. "You can probably take a pounding, and you might deserve it, but you don't have to."

Sakura blinked at his sudden words. She wanted to quip that was more than she had heard him say in two days but she felt tongue tied. She managed to squeak out, "I can handle a fight!" She closed her mouth with a click. She didn't sound particularly convincing.

"Maybe. You sent one guy to the hospital. But what're you going to do when they gang up again?"

Sakura ground her teeth. She had been thinking the same thing for a while and she still didn't know what to do about it. "You guys don't even know me. You shouldn't get involved."

"I think it's too late for that."

Sakura grumbled. "Why do you let Naruto drag you into other people's problems, anyway?"

"I do not!" Sasuke forced himself back to calm. "They're not going to stop." He stared at her.

Sakura had to fight to keep from fidgeting. "I don't care. They aren't going to make me stop training or anything else." She hadn't been thinking that, but as soon as she said it she knew it was true. The whispers in class or the intimidation on the field wasn't going to keep her from her goals.

"Hn." Responded Sasuke. They turned to walk back to the table. "The worst thing about Naruto is that he never ever gives up." Sakura shot Sasuke a confused look. He gave her a smirk. "It's also the best thing about him."

* * *

Ah the relief of finishing a chapter, proofreading, uploading and double checking it. So nice to know it's done and going live. And the relief is all too quickly followed by panic that I have to write another one... At least I'm figuring out where this story is going. Sort of. Slowly.


End file.
